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Dark Needs at Night's Edge
Dark Needs at Night's Edge is the fifth book in the Immortals After Dark series. It was published in April, 2008. It tells the story of Conrad Wroth and Néomi Laress a Vampire and a human turned ghost. Back Cover Copy A vampire warrior consumed by madness, trapped in the lair of an otherworldly temptress only he can see. Néomi Laress, a famous ballerina in the early 1900s, became a phantom the night she was murdered. Imbued with powers, but invisible to the living, she haunts her beloved home, scaring away any trespassers--until she encounters a ruthless immortal even more terrifying than Néomi herself. The beauty wants him gone--the warrior can't leave. To prevent him from harming others, Conrad Wroth's brothers imprison him in an abandoned manor. There only Conrad can see the dancer with wild raven hair--who seems determined to drive him further into madness. The exquisite creature inflames him with desire, leaving his body racked with lust and his soul torn as he finds himself coveting her for his own. Let the games begin… Yet even if Conrad can win Néomi and claim her completely, evil still surrounds her. Once he returns to the brutality of his past to protect her, will he succumb to the dark needs seething inside him? Summary In 1927, Néomi Laress is celebrating her triumph, she has risen to the top as a prima ballerina and is hosting a party in her new home Elancourt. Her ex-fiancé, Louis Robicheaux stabs her in the heart. Néomi doesn't want to die, and wakes a ghost. In the present day, Conrad Wroth is trying to dull his senses with whiskey when his brothers, Nikolai, Murdoch and Sebastian enter the bar. Conrad almost defeats them but, Bowen MacRieve in the bar with his wife helps and he is subdued. The Wroth Brothers take Conrad to their newly purchased mansion Elancourt. Conrad becomes crazed and his brothers dose him with a sedative from the Witches, as he passes out he sees Néomi backlit by the lightning her fury of his destruction of Elancourt and says "Where is she?" and "Female beautiful." This makes Néomi think Conrad might be able to see her and she waits for him to wake. When he wakes she tries to talk to him but finds it difficult in her state and Conrad cannot see her so he assumes she is figment of his imagination. He destroys some of the house and Néomi telekinetically pushes him up to the ceiling. She cannot hold him and when she drops him he charges out of the house. It is day and he burns, racing toward the bayou across the road. He is unable to reach it as when he crosses the boundary, the Witches' boundary spell traces him back to his room. The week that follows the Wroth's talk to Conrad trying to break through to him and dose him with the sedative. It is supposed to make him more sensitive to his Bride's prescense. At the end of the week Conrad is much more lucid and he is allowed to bathe Néomi forces him to reveal that he can see her and his brothers see the mark of the Kapsliga Uur on his back. Sebastian tries to convince him that meeting his Bride would be a great thing and reveals in front of Néomi the significance of the Kapsliga mark, Conrad is a virgin. Néomi is aroused by this but Conrad is humiliated. The Wroth Brothers leave to fight for Kristoff, claiming they will be back in two or three days and they have left him blood in the fridge. Conrad and Néomi slowly make a rapport and begin to fall for one another. They argue on one of Conrad's bad days and Néomi leaves only to perform the monthly reenactment of her death. Her energy restores the ballroom to the way it looked in 1927 and she dances. Then she feels a knife stab her in the heart and twist. Conrad apologises for his rasheness and they talk more. Soon after Kaderin and Myst come to Elancourt, they argue and reveal Kristoff is holding them prisoner until they turn over Conrad. They decide not to turn Conrad over and instead attack Mt. Oblak Castle to get their husbands back. Conrad sees this and decides that he must leave, he cuts a hand off to free it from the cuffs. Néomi is horrified and give him the key she had stolen earlier. Conrad is furious she hid the key from him and yells at her and leaves. Conrad goes back to his old hideout and sees from his old notes how crazed he was and admits to himself Néomi might have had a point keeping him at Elancourt. Néomi mopes and then realises how different she is, wanting to become the old Néomi, from when she was alive she considers her options and remembers the phone she stole from Nikolai before he left. She uses it to call Mariketa who she heard the brothers talk about earlier. Mariketa is at a Girl's Night Out and after using Néomi to scare Reginleit she uses a mirror from Néomi's studio and she and Nix arrive. After discussing her options Néomi asks to be given a "target-practice body" a body with a short life span, because she wants to go to the Liv der Lanking. At the Liv der Lanking, Néomi enjoys herself until a fight breaks out. Conrad, there to try and take out Tarut and The Woede, see Néomi and she bloods him. Néomi stops him from killing Rydstrom and he traces her back to Elancourt. The relieve some of their sexual tension and both climax but Conrad peaks too soon. The next day they do consumate their relationship and they settle into a routine, Conrad goes out tracking down leads on Tarut and then they go out. Two weeks pass and Conrad takes Néomi to a dinner in a fancy Russian restaurant and then a performance of Romeo and Juliet by the National French Ballet Company. Conrad proposes to Néomi but she refuses, not wanting to marry him while she is going to die. Conrad bites her and they fight. That night Tarut attacks Elancourt and Conrad traces outside to fight him. Néomi runs outside to help and is captured. Tarut promises Conrad that he will let her go if he can kill him. Conrad agrees. Cadeon Woede stops him as he and Rydstrom need Conrad alive. Cade tries to kill Tarut, but he uses Néomi as a human shield and she is mortally wounded. Cade beheads Tarut, apologises and leaves. Conrad takes Néomi inside and asks her how she became human, Néomi tells him it Mariketa and he bangs on the mirrors in the studio, desperate for her to come and help. She does, and after a brief discussion agrees to heal Néomi's body. Mari succeeds but is enthralled part way through and the body is in Néomi's grave. Mari can't tell Conrad because of her enthrallment but he figures it out. Conrad needs to get to her grave but hasn't been to any of New Orlean's graveyards. He decides to ask his brothers for help. Conrad storms Mt. Oblak Castle, defeating but not killing any of the soldiers. Conrad then bends magically reinforced bars to break them out. Kristoff arrives and demands Conrad swear fealty to him, Conrad refuses as he is Russian but vows not to fight him or his army. Sebastian goes to get his and Nikolai's Brides to stop planning their war. Murdoch traces away to a mysterious place. Nikolai takes Conrad to the graves until he finds Néomi, blue from lack of air. Néomi and Conrad make plans but she thinks she might have come back wrong because she's noticed differences in herself. One night when Conrad goes and drinks with his brothers while she sleeps, Elancourt catches fires and she dies. Conrad traces back and is injured, Néomi uses her telekinesis to save him and then when he needs blood she incarnates her body. Nix watching nearby reveals that Néomi is now a Phantom and has them promise to fight on her side in an upcoming war. She also gives them a prediction on what their children will be like. Cadeon Woede is watching Holly Ashwin from a rooftop, he and Rydstrom discuss why he can't have her (she's human and couldn't survive the claiming) and when he leaves Nix arrives and they discuss why Rydstrom lied to Cade about Néomi surviving. Category:Immortals After Dark Category:Books